Use of open-source health IT to get closer review by HHS thanks to stimulus law
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to conduct a study on the availability and total cost of open-source health information technology systems compared to proprietary systems as part of HHS’ compliance with the new economic stimulus law. The study could mean a marked improvement in the acceptance of open-source tech projects in the health IT marketplace, according to industry officials. According to the stimulus law, Congress must report on the study’s progress by Oct. 1, 2010. Open-source health IT has been discussed for several years, but its implementation has been hindered by technological limitations, cost and lack of readiness on the part of healthcare providers, according to the California Health Care Foundation. The provision within the stimulus package notes that HHS should, in particular, consider the circumstances of healthcare providers in rural or other medically underserved areas.  http://govhealthit.com/articles/2009/03/30/arra-open-source.aspx

Ontario launches $2.1 billion effort to provide EHRs to all diabetics by 2012
The Canadian province of Ontario has unveiled a $2.1 billion [USD] plan to provide every diabetes-inflicted person in the province – about 800,000 people – with an electronic health record (EHR) by 2012 and have all medical care patients on the system by 2015. According to Sarah Kramer, president of eHealth Ontario, the province’s EHR initiative, 65 percent of all doctors and two-thirds of their patients will be on electronic medical data by April 2012. The goal is to have 100 percent of all doctors and their patients enrolled by 2015, and also ensure that 65 percent of medication orders are filled electronically by 2012. Enrolling all 800,000 diabetics would definitely jumpstart the effort, Kramer notes. Currently, only half of the province’s diabetics receive the basic, preventative checkups that can keep them out of hospitals, she said. http://www.thestar.com/News/...

Scripps, Qualcomm, West Foundation form wireless healthcare technology institute
Scripps Health, Qualcomm, and the Gary and Mary West Foundation have initiated a $45 million effort to create one of the world’s first medical research organizations dedicated to advancing healthcare through use of wireless technologies. The West Wireless Health Institute (WWHI) in San Diego will conduct clinical research on solutions to better prevent, diagnose, manage and treat major health conditions, including Alzheimer’s, heart disease and obesity, according to WWHI founder and chairperson Gary West. Dr. Eric J. Topol, Chief Academic Officer at Scripps Health, and Donald Jones, vice president of health and life sciences at Qualcomm, will also serve on the WWHI board. “The Institute will enable inventors, medical device makers and others to hatch, nurture and refine their ideas for wireless health solutions,” Jones said. “We believe the launch of [WWHI] will lead to levels of care never before seen in the delivery of healthcare.” http://www.westwirelesshealth.org/...

Google launches capital venture fund for healthcare IT startup companies
Google Inc. has formed a new capital venture fund designed to help innovative start-up information technology, healthcare and biotech firms move up in the world. The arrival of Google Ventures comes at a time when money is tight for newcomers hoping to turn into the “next big thing,” according to fund managing partners Bill Maris, founder of Burlee.com, and Rich Miner, co-founder of mobile platforms company Android, now a Google subsidiary. “Economically, times are tough, but great ideas come when they will,” Miner and Maris said. “If anything, we think the economic downturn is an ideal time to invest in nascent companies...we’ll be working hard to find them.” http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/... and http://www.google.com/ventures/

Implementation of telemedicine services continues at steady pace in rural India
Increasing numbers of rural communities in India are receiving expanded healthcare services as telemedicine continues to make its way further into far-flung districts, government officials report. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to extend its telemedicine network to all district hospitals within the state of Jharkhand. The project will be a 50:50 venture between the Jharkhand Space Application Centre and the state, according to ISRO Chairperson G. Madhavan Nair. Meanwhile, five district hospitals in North India will be connected with the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) for upgraded telemedicine-based consultation services by the first week of May, according to SKIMS Director Dr. Harrid Zargar. Officials in both locations predict that it won’t be long before all district hospitals, city medical colleges and sub-district hospitals are linked to their respective hub facilities.  http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090331/... and http://www.risingkashmir.com/?...

DoD, VA establish new group to oversee creation of joint e-health records service
The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have created a work group to establish a joint electronic health and benefits record for service members, veterans and their families, according to the DoD/VA Interagency Program Office. According to Rear Adm. Gregory Timberlake, the new group’s objective is to “explore making a lifetime longitudinal virtual electronic record for service members, veterans, and their beneficiaries.” The idea, Timberlake said, is to create a record that will cover everything from the accession of the service member, to an application at the Veterans Cemetery Authority. Timberlake will chair the working group. The new record will build on the two departments’ two-year effort to make their EHR systems interoperable, he said. Although the two departments are incrementally building the health information technology project, the EHR will have what clinicians need to treat patients by its deadline at the end of fiscal 2009, Timberlake added. http://govhealthit.com/articles/2009/03/27/... and http://fcw.com/articles/2009/03/27/va-dod-health-record.aspx

Tight economy means high demand for grants from Centers of Excellence program
The stimulus bill and economic downturn are resulting in an overflow of applications for grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Centers of Excellence (COE) program, according to CDC officials. Conference call-made response for the latest round of COE’s informatics incubator grants was so high on March 30 that the issuing agency, the National Center for Public Health Informatics (NCPHI), was forced to schedule a second call, according to Dr. Scott McNabb, NCPHI’s associate director for science. “These institutions are being forced to tighten their belts and they’re looking for new ways to save resources,” McNabb said. The CDC intends to commit $5.5 million in 2009 to fund four or five new COEs, he said. The average award amount will be $1 million per center for the first 12 months, and McNabb estimates that the total cost of the five-year program will be $27.5 million. http://govhealthit.com/articles/2009/03/31/cdc-program.aspx

Scheduling software mishap may shut down VA’s My HealtheVet platform
The Veterans Affairs Department’s new My HealtheVet electronic health platform is on the verge of failure due to the agency’s inability to perfect a necessary appointment scheduling application, according to Veterans Health Administration Undersecretary for Health Dr. Michael Kussman. The Replacement Scheduling Application Development Program (RSADP), which VA began building in 2001, “still has not developed a single scheduling capability it can provide to the field, nor is there any expectation of delivery in the near future,” Kussman wrote in a March 20 memo to Stephen Warren, VA’s acting assistant secretary for information and technology. The application is a key piece of My HealtheVet, the e-record keeping and workload management medical platform designed to replace VA’s aging Veterans Health Information System and Technology Architecture (VistA). RSADP’s pending failure follows the Scheduling Replacement Project, a five-year, $75 million effort discontinued in 2006.http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090331_5665.php and http://www.govexec.com/nextgov/RSAMemo.pdf

SHL Telemedicine wins Cardiac Innovation of Year award from Frost & Sullivan
Tel Aviv, Israel-based SHL Telemedicine Ltd. has won Frost & Sullivan’s “2008 European Telemedicine Systems for Cardiac Monitoring Product Innovation of the Year” award for its next-generation personal ECG device, the CardioSen’C^TM. CardioSen’C^TM is a 12-lead ECG personal digital cellular transmitter and monitoring system that can be used on a cellular or public-switched telephone network to remotely transmit real-time cardiological data, according to Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Abhishek Dutta. Frost & Sullivan’s Award for Product Innovation is presented annually to the company that has demonstrated excellence in new products and technologies within its industry; the recipient company has “shown innovation by launching a broad line of emerging products and technologies,” Dutta said. http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/press-release-print.pag...

OnAir, RDT introduce new generation of inflight telemedicine service
Geneva, Switzerland-based communication services providers OnAir and Remote Diagnostic Technologies Ltd. (RDT) have successfully tested an inflight telemedicine program that allows doctors on the ground to use real-time moving video technology to remotely assist afflicted passengers onboard, and help the crew managing the emergency from the air. Telemedicine is becoming a vital part of airline service, due to increased air travel – which also increases the likelihood of an inflight emergency – and rising cost of diverting aircraft should the emergency occur, according to RDT Chief Executive Officer Graham Murphy. The new product, Tempus IC, means medical experts can more accurately assess the situation than ever before. “This not only offers reassurance to the patient, but is an enormous step forward in reducing the number of unplanned landings and in improving operational efficiency for the airline,” OnAir CEO Benoit Debains said.http://www.abtn.co.uk/press-releases/...

VivoMetrics, OBS Medical to create decision assist software for patient monitoring
Ventura, CA-based patient monitoring system maker VivoMetrics Inc. and Carmel, IN-based automated early warning technology firm OBS Medical are partnering on an effort to create a new wireless vital signs monitoring system for the next generation of VivoMetrics’ LifeShirt^® product. The two companies will develop a new tool to continuously integrate collected vital sign data from remotely monitored patients into a dynamic index of health status, according to VivoMetrics President Howard Baker. Changes in this index can serve as an early alert for telehealth providers of the need to intervene in patient care, ultimately helping to improve quality of care and to reduce cost outcomes, he said. http://www.obsmedical.com/news_090331.php

An April Fool's joke: Obama outsourcing U.S. healthcare to Canada and Mexico
In the “Don’t believe everything you read” department, New Health Leader reports that President Barack Obama has signed an executive order outsourcing the entire United States healthcare system to Canada and Mexico. Executive Order 66 covers 7,000 government, public and private hospitals, 2,000 clinics, 1.4 million providers, 1 million nurses and 348 million insured, underinsured and uninsured Americans. The order would save the U.S. government $2.4 trillion, according to Obama. “As a result of the last month’s Healthcare Summit, it was determined that the America people are ready for a change in their healthcare delivery system,” Obama said. “No more business as usual; the current delivery model is broken, and this is our solution for fixing it.” Final details of Obama’s order, “given” on April Fool’s Day, need to be worked out.  http://trusted.md/blog/mikeryan/2009/04/01/...